Conventional light sources, such as used for illumination and display purposes in the entertainment and other industries, typically use a white light source. These light sources work on the principle that white light carries the full spectrum of visible rays of light having various wavelengths and associated colors. In conventional lighting systems, the light source is not directly controlled to provide various colors but, instead, filters, gels, and dichroic glass are used in conjunction with the white light source to color the visible illumination. Dichroic light systems include a white light source and red, green, and blue filters and involve a combination of 3 to 4 light sources or mechanical devices to mix colors. Gels and filters are colored transmissive materials placed over the white light source to produce colored illumination. As such, when different colors of light are desired, the filters, gels or dichroic glass that cover the white light source, must be mechanically changed. This is a time consuming process. The different gels, etc. used to provide the different colors of light may include the primary colors of red, green and blue, and the combinations thereof such as the secondary colors of magenta, cyan, and yellow, as well as the different white light colors conventionally designated in terms of Kelvin degrees (° K).
Other available lighting systems use many, different colored LEDs (light emitting diodes), in combination, to produce various colors of visible illumination. Such systems typically require multiple connections such as to both a power supply and a separate controller such as a computer. As such, these multiple component systems are rather bulky with decreased portability. Many LED lighting systems also include dip switches or other settings that must be physically adjusted in order to select and control the colors produced by the LED light source. Such a requirement to physically toggle switches in order to change colors, is labor intensive and time consuming. Therefore, the various different colors of illumination cannot be selected or changed in an instant.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an LED lighting apparatus that is lightweight and portable and operates using a minimal number of components. More particularly, it would be advantageous to provide such an apparatus with a single power supply/controller and which can have the illumination color and intensity selected and switched instantly by the press of a button. The present invention addresses these needs.